Introduction to Sainsbury’s History Packsainsburys.lgfl.org.uk/media/histpack.pdfSainsbury’s and the Provision Trade Page 2 Sainsbury’s and the Provision Trade As Sainsbury’s

Introduction toSainsbury’s History Pack

This pack may be used either by individual pupils or by teachers in theclassroom.

The factfiles cover the early history of the company and importantinfluences on its later development, such as the impact of the two worldwars and the introduction of self-service in the 1950s.

The changing role of women in the company is highlighted throughoutthe factfiles.

There are six factfiles available:

Factfiles...............................................................................

Factfile 1 Sainsbury’s and the Provision Trade

Factfile 2 History in the High Street

Factfile 3 The First World War

Factfile 4 The Second World War

Factfile 5 Self-service

Factfile 6 Working for Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s is happy to waive its copyright in this pack for individual studyand classroom use. Please feel free to photocopy it.

.

All paper used in this pack is recycled.

This pack aims:

w To tellsomething ofthe history ofSainsbury’ssince 1869

w To relate thatstory to the waypeople’s liveshave changed

w To makearchivematerialavailable andencourageresearchthroughprimarysources

Factfile 1............................................................Picture Resources:Chapel Street, Islington, c 1895Romford branch, c 1905Guildford branch, c 1906Harry Webb, delivery lad, Enfield, c 1913

Photocopies:Tributes to Mary Ann Sainsbury, EveningStandard, 1927Methods of cutting butter, 1914Poultry & provision depot, Balham, 1888Kelly’s Post Office Directory, 1870

Factfile 2............................................................Picture Resources:Four shops to cut out and make

PhotocopyArchitectural plan for 392 Mare St,Hackney, 1929

Factfile 3............................................................Picture Resources:Female delivery driver & assistant, c 1915

Photocopies:Advertisement & newspaper cutting,1914Advertisement for Crelos margarine, 1915Ration card & advertisement, 1919Staff engagement records, 1914

Factfile 4............................................................Picture Resources:Emergency shop, second world war

Photocopies:The Manager at Sainsbury’s, 1940Ration bookPlan your points, 1942Letter to Mrs Shepperd, 1941Letter to Miss Crouch, 1944VE Day letter to Sainsbury’s staff onnational service

Factfile 5............................................................Picture Resources:Self-service, Croydon, 1950Self-service, Eastbourne, 1952Counter service, Catford, 1955

Photocopies:How to shop self-service, 1955Sainsbury’s ‘Q-less’ store, Croydon, 1950A modern floor plan, 1998

Factfile 6............................................................Picture Resources:Street carnival, Enfield, c 1930

Photocopies:Staff experience card (1937 - 1940)Recruitment advertisements:- Drury Lane, 1886- A career for keen young men, 1937- A career in the food trade, 1954

Introduction to Sainsbury’s History Pack

List of Resources

All paper used in this pack is recycled

The resourcesinclude a

selection ofpostcards which

were producedwith this pack in

mind; cut outmodels of

Sainsbury’sshops built

between 1873and 1925; andphotocopies ofpress cuttings,

advertisements,floor plans and

other materials.

Nowadays most people do most of theirfood shopping in supermarkets andeven corner shops contain thousands ofproduct, from cornflakes to ketchup,batteries to bin liners. In thenineteenth century it was very different.Shops carried far fewer product lines,and were divided into several cleartypes: grocers, dairies, butchers andgreengrocers, as well as oil and colourmerchants, corn and coal merchants.

Sainsbury’s Founders

John James Sainsbury, the founder ofthe company, started work at 14. Heworked in a grocer’s shop in the NewCut near Waterloo Station, London.(Grocers sell dry goods: packets andcans of food.)

His next job was with an oil and colourmerchant in Woolwich. This shop soldover 2,000 different articles - a lot forthe 1860s - ‘everything from chicory togunpowder’. The shop would have soldall sorts of oils, from petrol and lampoil to cooking oil and linseed oil forartists’ paints. It would also have soldblocks of solid colour from which theartists’ paints were ground and mixed,as well as household goods, such ascandles and soap and basic groceries,such as dried fruit and rice.

When he moved jobs to work foranother oil and colour merchant inStrutton Ground, Victoria, he met hisfuture wife, Mary Ann Staples, whoworked in a dairy down the street.Mary Ann's father, Benjamin Staples,had his own small chain of dairy shopsin North London. Mary Ann musthave worked in her father’s shop and

this probably helped John James andher to decide to open a dairy shopthemselves.

The First Sainsbury’s Shop

John James and Mary Ann got marriedin 1869 and opened a dairy in DruryLane. The rent was around £128 ayear and the rates were 9 guineas(£9.45) a quarter. They would havehad to buy weights and scales, churnsand measures for the milk and a blockon which to pat the butter.

The story is that they had saved up£100 to start the business. (That isabout £6,000 in today’s money). Whilethat was a lot of money at the time, itshows that becoming a smallshopkeeper was one way that workingclass people who were able to workhard could set up in their own businessand join the middle classes.

John James and Mary Ann specialisedin butter and eggs, but they also soldmilk. Mary Ann was the first womanto work behind the counter at Sains-bury’s. She ran the first shop by herselfwhile her husband worked out hisnotice with his previous employer,George Gillett, an oil and colourmerchant. Sarah Pullen who workedin the shop in the early days said thatthe couple wanted to have ‘the best butterin London’ and that Mary Ann ‘... wasalways up very early in the morning and tookgreat pride in the cleanliness of the shop’.

She was also said to be ‘very keen onserving behind the butter counter’. Sarahherself ran the Drury Lane shop afterthe Sainsburys moved to a new house

Sainsbury’s History Pack

Page 1 Sainsbury’s and the Provision Trade

Sainsbury’sand the

ProvisionTrade

Factfile

1

above their second shop in KentishTown. When she married, herhusband, James, took on the role ofmanager. Probably the wives of otherearly managers also worked in theshops. In the census these women arerecorded as ‘cheesemonger’s wife’, butin Sainsbury’s records they are shownas ‘manager’s wife - housekeeper’.

Although in the nineteenth century itwas quite common for single women,particularly widows, to run small shopson their own, it was becoming anincreasingly male profession whichrequired a range of skills and anextended period of training or appren-ticeship. As Sainsbury’s womenworked as office clerks in the shops andat head office. ‘Lady clerks’ were said tomake the stores run better: ‘Managers arereleased from clerical work in order to under-take their real job of dealing with customers inthe shops’.

Housekeepers

As Sainsbury’s grew larger it employedboys and young men from the timethey left school. Some were as youngas ten. Often they came up to Londonfrom the country and so they livedabove the shop. This meant that it wascommon for shops to have a residenthousekeeper. Women also worked asmaids and cooks.

Refrigeration

From the 1890s Sainsbury’s shops hadbeen built with an ice-box in thebasement. The plan for the MareStreet, Hackney, shop included in theFactfile 2 resources shows the cold storein the basement. Ice was delivered

twice a week by the North Pole IceCompany. At first this was the onlyrefrigeration. A few Sainsbury’sbranches were later equipped withrefrigerated bins called ‘coffins’ to storefrozen foods such as peas andice-cream, but it was not until thedevelopment of self-service in the 1950sthat refrigerated cabinets were actuallyintroduced in the shop. Sainsbury’salso developed and patented air-cooledcounters so that perishable foods couldbe displayed under a simple curvedPerspex canopy.

Sainsbury’s has continued to invest innew refrigeration technologies. Noneof the refrigerators used today at Sains-bury’s contains CFCs. Automaticmonitoring equipment has beeninstalled in all supermarkets to ensurethat all foods are kept at the appropri-ate temperature at every stage of the‘cold chain’. Since the early 1960s,lorries with refrigerated compartmentshave been used to make sure that foodsare transported at the correct tempera-ture and that the cold chain ismaintained.

The development of canning and freez-ing helped to ensure that a widerchoice of food was available all yearround. More recently, chilled andvacuum packed foods have increasedchoice still further.

Modern transport systems also meanthat food can be transported muchmore quickly than in the past. In 1894,The Grocer’s Manual complained that‘English and Irish eggs are carried to themarkets once a week or fortnight, and are liableto be two, three or four weeks old before theyare actually eaten’. Partly to help

Sainsbury’s and the Provision Trade


As Sainsbury’sgrew larger it

employed boysand young men

from the timethey left

school. Somewere as youngas ten. Oftenthey came up

to London fromthe country and

so they livedabove the shop.

overcome that problem. Frank Sains-bury, one of John James’ sons, wentinto farming. His eggs came fresh tothe shops and were so popular that hecould not produce sufficient eggs tosatisfy customers’ demands. Hetherefore set up an egg collectionsystem which guaranteed that eggswould be in the shops three days afterthey had been laid.

Activities

1. Look at the postcard of ChapelStreet. At the time this picture wastaken, Sainsbury’s set up stalls outsideits shops. One of the first jobs youngboys were give was to sell eggs outsideon the market stall. Sainsbury’s alsoran the shop three doors along. Noticethat the advertising slogans ‘QualityPerfect, Prices Lower’ is similar to themodern slogan ‘Good Food Cost Less atSainsbury’s’. Note too the claim thatSainsbury’s Shilling Butter is the ‘BestValue in the World’. John James andMary Ann had originally wanted tohave the best butter in London. SarahPullen is quoted in the Evening Standardobituary as saying that Mrs Sainsburytook a special pride in her skill atweighing butter. The diagrams in theresources give you some idea of what askilful job cutting butter was. Trymaking Plasticine models of the differ-ent types of butter and margarine, andmarking them up as shown. Howmuch did a wholesale block of Austra-lian butter weigh?

The advertisement for the Balhambranch (opened 1888) shows that froman early date Sainsbury’s traded in themore affluent middle class suburbs, aswell as in the working class areas like

Chapel Street in Islington. The term‘depot’ was used to denote the largersize and grander status.

Have a look at the postcard of theRomford branch (c 1905). How manytimes can you see the word ‘Sainsbury’repeated on the shop front? You canget a good idea of the range of foodssold by Sainsbury’s at the time bylooking at this postcard. To the left arehares, turkeys, bacon and cheeses; tothe right a great variety of eggs. Someare sold at the rate of seven or eight forsixpence (2½p), others at 10d (about4p), 1s 0d (5p) or 1s 6d (7½p) perdozen. You can also see the longaprons worn by members of staff. MrTupman, the manager, (in the centre ofthe picture), is wearing a black waist-coat. To his left, the butcher, MrGamble, is distinguished by his stripedapron.

The third man in this central group isMr Witchell, the first hand (assistantmanager). Two years later the single-breasted white jackets were replaced bya double-breasted style jacket, whichcould be reversed to allow for two days’wear, as it would button either way.How old do you think the egg boy is?Notice also the delivery bicycle and theaccommodation over the shop. Have alook at the plan of the Mare Street,Hackney, shop in Factfile 2 for an ideaof how the shop would have been laidout. The postcard of the Guildfordbranch (1906) shows the house style ofSainsbury’s shops which stayed thesame until after the second world war.Notice the elaborate tiles (madespecially for Sainsbury’s by MintonHollin’s of Stoke-on-Trent) and theintricate mosaic patterned floor. Other



Factfile 1Resources

Postcards:Chapel Street Islington,

c1895

Romford branch, c 1905

Guildford branch, c 1906

Harry Webb, delivery lad,Enfield, c 1913

Photocopies:Tributes to Sainsburys

Founders,Evening Standard, 1927

Methods of cutting butter,1914

Poultry & provision depot,Balham, 1888

Kelly’s Post Office Directory,1870

notable features include the bentwoodchairs set by the Sicilian marble count-ers. In those days you would sit downto be served. It might take some timefor the assistant to cut and weigh yourpurchases.

Very few foods were sold ready-packed.Goods displayed on the counter havethe prices clearly marked. This wasinsisted upon by John James Sainsburyin order to help customers make theirchoices. It was not required by law.(The development of self-service in the1950s made it important for all foods tobe clearly labelled with their price.)The Guildford shop was one of the firstbranches to be lit by electricity, with 40watt light bulbs suspended over thecounters. The light well in the centreof the shop provides natural daylight.(you can see such a ‘lantern light’ wellin the plan of the Mare Street,Hackney, shop in Factfile 2.) At theback of the shop you can see thecashier’s office. (Shop assistants whocut and weighed fresh foods like baconand cheese did not handle money.)You may also be able to make out thereflection of a customer being servedoutside the shop in the mirror to theright of the screen.

The postcard of Harry Webb showsanother aspect of Sainsbury’s earlytrade. It was quite usual for customersto have their orders delivered. You cansee from the advertisement ‘Baconcheaper’, that boys like Harry could alsocollect orders but they were notsupposed to make casual sales on a‘stop me and buy one’ basis. How olddo you think Harry is? He laterprogressed to become a porter orwarehouseman.

2. Look at the entry from Kelly’sPost Office Directory in the resources.What shops can you see in the direc-tory? Which of these might you stillfind in your local high street? Whichhave disappeared?

3. Obtain a copy of the censusfrom 1871, 1881 or 1891 for a localstreet, perhaps the street you live in.You will have to visit your local publiclibrary or archive department.

It is a good idea to telephone inadvance to make an appointment andto check that they have the documentsyou need. You may find that they areavailable on microfilm.

Look at the jobs that people did, wherethey were born, how many childrenthey had, whether houses wereoccupied by one family or more,whether there were any servants orboarders etc. How have thingschanged over the last hundred years?

In many parts of the country, streetnames may have changed or streetsmay have disappeared altogether whenareas have been redeveloped. OldOrdnance Survey maps (many ofwhich have been republished) will helpyou to compare the old street plan withthe layout of a modern estate. Youshould be able to obtain census dataand street directory entries for the area,even if you cannot get a completematch.



This factfile contains descriptions offour of Sainsbury’s shops which openedbetween 1873 and 1925 and which areillustrated by cut-out models. Thefactfile describes the way that Sains-bury’s expanded, both socially andgeographically. From trading inworking class areas in London, Sains-bury’s expanded to the middle classsuburbs of Croydon and then furtherafield to places such as Watford andCambridge.

159 Queen’s Crescent, KentishTown, London

This was Sainsbury’s second shop,which opened in 1873. For a timeJohn James and Mary Ann Sainsbury,founders of the company, lived abovethe shop with their young family.

Kentish Town was a rapidly growingsuburb of north-west London. In 1861there were just over 44,000 peopleliving there. There were 68,000 in1871. One reason for this growth wasthe new railway, which made it possibleto travel daily to work in centralLondon. Queen’s Crescent was closeto Haverstock Hill Station, whichopened in 1868, and Kentish TownWest, which opened in 1872.

Houses were often built before shopsand other facilities. John BenjaminSainsbury (the founders’ son) used torecall how customers travelled to theQueen’s Crescent branches from as faraway as Hendon - six miles away.

Sainsbury’s had branches in severalother busy market streets like Queen’s

Crescent where there were lots ofpotential customers. Outside thesemarket street branches Sainsbury’s hadstalls selling eggs, and sometimes alsobacon.

159 Queen’s Crescent began as a dairyshop, selling butter milk, eggs andcheese. Customers could even buymilk when the shop was closed from aslot machine known as a ‘mechanicalcow’ in the doorway. In 1875 JohnJames Sainsbury opened a second shopon the same street, this time specialisingin bacon and ham. A third branch inQueen’s Crescent was added in 1885.

Small shops with a limited range ofproducts were typical of London’smarket streets. Increasing the numberof shops was a logical alternative toextending an existing shop, especiallywhen rents were low and the streetoutside the shop was crowded withmarket shoppers. Each shop was verysmall, with only 2 or 3 assistants,including and egg lad whose job was to‘bark’ his wares to passers-by and selleggs from a stall outside the shop.

159 Queen’s Crescent, Kentish Towntraded until 1962.

Memories of Sainsbury’s inKentish Town.

Hetty Scott kept a fruit and vegetablestall in Queen’s Crescent oppositeSainsbury’s shop. Her daughter, MrsSophie Jones, recalls market trading:

‘Sainsbury’s second shop was 159 Queen’sCrescent, Kentish Town, London NW5.Two others were opened later: number 98; the


Page 1 History in the High Street

History inthe High

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2

other number I can’t remember. All three werewithin 25 yards.

‘159 Queen’s Crescent was more of a dairyshop, selling eggs, butter, margarine which wasCrelos (Sainsbury’s brand name) at ashilling (5p) a pound; if you bought 1lb (454grams), you were given a gold metal revolvingpencil. The cheaper margarine was 6d (2½p)a lb. Butter was patted up and weighed. Younever bought more than ½lb (227 grams),and could even buy 2 ozs (56 grams). Sains-bury’s butter was always the best.

‘On the forecourt was the egg stall. The eggswere delivered in wooden crates about 7 ftlong, 3 ft wide, 6 inches deep (approxi-mately 210 x 90 x 15 centimetres). Iremember Dutch and Chinese eggs delivered bya van and a pair of shire horses. There wereseveral deliveries.

‘The price of eggs changed according to the timeof year. At Easter time they were very cheap,1d - an old penny - upwards. Farthings wereused a lot in those days. (1d is less thanhalf a modern penny, a farthing is aquarter of an old penny - about a tenthof a modern penny.)

‘Round about Easter time, the eggs werecoloured and had little fluffy yellow chicksscattered about. Sainsbury’s stalls weredivided into sections for different prices with acane basket on each section. You picked outyour own eggs and colours, put them in thecane basket, the assistant put them into a nicebag. There was always a basket of crackedeggs, this is where farthings came in.

‘I would always have to make my mother a jugtea, take it over to Sainsbury’s and ask them toput a farthing’s worth of milk in it. Beingstall-holders my brother would go to the

baker’s. Get two rolls, take them to a grocer’sshop, they would butter them free, take themover to Sainsbury’s, and they would fill themup with ham off the bone, and all for sixpence.

As my brother said: “Give me back the bad olddays”.’

6 London Road, Croydon

John James Sainsbury’s first branchoutside central London opened in1882. The old market town ofCroydon attracted wealthy middle classcommuters after the opening of theLondon and Croydon Railway in 1839.Not surprisingly, the town called for amore prestigious style of food shop thanthe market streets in which Sainsbury’searliest branches had been.

Sainsbury’s Croydon store was unusualin the lavishness of its decoration:

§ colour patterned tiles on the wallsand counter-fronts

§ pictures of game birds in stainedglass

§ polished wooden office screen§ marble shop front with gilded

lettering.

The shop was lit with special energy-saving gas lamps which preheated thegas before it was burned.

The Croydon store offered a widerrange of food than any previous Sains-bury’s cheese from all over the world,cooked meats, including Sainsbury’sown brand pork pies, breakfast sausageand brawn; poultry and game of everydescription in season: ptarmigan,

History in the High Street


“I wouldalways have to

make mymother a jug of

tea, take it overto Sainsbury’sand ask them

to put afarthing’s

worth of milkin it”.

capercailzie, Bordeaux pigeons andEgyptian quails.

The smart customers in Croydonexpected to have their purchases deliv-ered. Sainsbury’s delivery lads madetwo rounds daily, using bicycles ortricycles for short distances and horsesand carts for the outlying districts.People had no fridges at home so theyhad to shop often for perishables suchas cheese and meat, and few peoplehad transport of their own to carrytheir purchases home.

In 1896 Sainsbury’s added the shopnext door (thus becoming 9-11 Londonsince the street numbering hadchanged in 1890). In the 1950 the shopbecame the first Sainsbury’s store to beconverted to self-service. Even after itclosed in 1969 the shop continued tomake history, becoming a trainingcentre for staff and customers to learnabout decimal money, the first shopanywhere to use the new coinage.

5 The Parade, Watford

Sainsbury’s first opened a branch inWatford in 1898 in a new parade ofshops in the fashionable upper end ofthe High Street. It was next door toClement’s, a family department storewhich is still there today.

The new Sainsbury’s was typical of thekind of branch John James Sainsburylike to open in south-eastern countrytowns at the turn of the century. It wasin the middle of the row. This hadseveral advantages. First, it was wellaway from the dust thrown up by thewheels of horse vans as they turned the

corner. Second, a shop within a rowwas long and narrow with maximumspace to display food along the countersand walls. Long narrow shops hadfewer windows than corner shops andso were cooler in summer - importantas there were no fridges in the stores.Also, with a central position, there wasmore chance of being able to take overthe shop next door as trade grew. TheWatford branch was extended in 1946.

With a staff of about twenty, includingdelivery lads, skilled butchers andpoulterers, clerks and warehousemen,Watford was one of Sainsbury’s largerbranches. It sold a full range of provi-sions: bacon and hams, dairy produce,game and poultry.

The model shows it decorated withturkeys for Christmas: the night beforeChristmas Eve all the staff wouldparticipate in preparing the birds fordisplay and would take turns to guardthem around the clock once they werehung.

The branch at 5 The Parade, Watford,traded until 1965.

16-17 Sidney Street, Cambridge

In the 1920s and 30s, many newshopping centres developed, especiallyin the suburbs of the big cities. Sains-bury’s often took part in the develop-ment of a parade of shops in theLondon commuter belt. There mightbe a newsagent, a baker, a chemist, agreengrocer, a hardware shop and aclothes shop as well as Sainsbury’s ownbranch.



People had nofridges at home

so they had toshop often for

perishablefoods, such as

cheese andmeat.

Few people hadtransport oftheir own to

carry theirpurchases

home.

At that time Sainsbury’s sold fresh andcooked meats, game, dairy produce,bacon and a small range of groceries.Generally, Sainsbury’s branches werelong and narrow (about 4m x 50m)with two or more storeys - includingaccommodation for staff - at the frontof the building and a single storeybehind, with skylights to bring daylightto the end of the shop.

Opening day (11 December 1925) atSainsbury’s first Cambridge branchwas so busy that the company apolo-gised after wards in the local press forthe crush!

By 1925 Sainsbury’s had 166 branches.It had moved beyond London toNorwich in the east, Bournemouth inthe south and Oxford in the west.Cambridge, sixty miles from London,could easily be reached by road. Somebranches had to rely upon the railwayfor supplies and such shops oftencomplained about delays and missingparcels.

With a sales area of 2,400 sq ft (223m2)and a staff of over fifty, Cambridge wasa big branch when it opened. It sold awide range of lines, from everydaygroceries such as tea and sugar to peat-smoked bacon, meat pies made inSainsbury’s own factory and exoticforeign cheeses such as Gorgonzolaand Brie.

The Style of the Stores

The green and cream wall tiles weresimilar to the those which had beenused in all new Sainsbury branchessince the turn of the century; the

counter tiles were known to themanufacturers as ‘Sainsbury’s TeapotBrown’.

The tiles, polished mahogany officescreen, white Sicilian marble countertops and the mosaic floor made Sains-bury’s branches easy to recognise. Thetiles, marble and mosaic were also easyto keep clean, and so they contributedto the hygiene standards of the stores.

Until after the second world war,Sainsbury’s branches had no door, butwere made secure at night with shutterand a padlocked gate. Above the doorwas a fascia board of black glass withSainsbury’s name in gilded lettering.At Cambridge the coats of arms of theuniversity and the city added localflavour.

The shop at 16-17 Sidney Street,Cambridge, traded until 1972, when itwas replaced by a modernsupermarket.

Activities

1. There are four models in thepack to cut out and assemble. Thesemay be photocopied onto card andhand coloured if you want more thanone copy. The models may be studiedalongside the plan of the Mare Streetstore from 1929, included in theresources. Together they give a goodidea of the design of traditional Sains-bury’s counter service stores.

a. 159 Queen’s Crescent, KentishTown, London.

b. 6 London Road, Croydon.



Factfile 2Resources

Postcards:

Four shops to cut out andmake

Photocopies:Architectural plan for

392 Mare Street, Hackney,1929

c. 5 The Parade, Watford.

d. 16/17 Sidney Street, Cambridge.

The frontages of the model shops arebased closely on historical photographsand documents from Sainsbury’sArchives.

NB: Construction hint: lightly scoringthe folding lines will improve theappearance of the finished models.

2. Take a close look at the MareStreet shop plan. In the top rightcorner there is a side elevation of thebuilding which shows the three storeyconstruction at the front of thebuilding, dropping back to a singlestorey at the rear. Now look at the firstfloor plan. you can see the threelantern lights which provided naturaldaylight to the rear of the shop(compare with the postcard of theGuildford branch in 1906).

On the ground floor plan, from left toright, notice the basement with its coldstore. Also look at the second floorplan. Notice the accommodation overthe shop.

3. Most high streets have a varietyof shops which were built in differentstyles at different times. Sometimes ashop will not have changed very muchto look at since it was built, but moreoften the shop front and the inside willhave been altered considerably.

You can often guess the age of a build-ing by looking at the upper storeys androof. These are more likely to remainin their original form than the groundfloor.

4. Study entries from old street directo-ries. (There will be copies at your locallibrary or archive department).Compare the uses of shops in the direc-tory entry with shop usage now. Thesechanges often reflect the way thatsociety in general or a local neighbour-hood in particular, have changed overthe years.

5. Are there any obviousconstraints on the retailers who occupythe shops today, such as parking anddelivery restrictions, size or lack ofroom for expansion?

6. Make a list of the benefits anddisadvantages of edge-of-town storesand town centre supermarketdevelopments.

Think about the way modern technol-ogy - motor cars, refrigerators, freezersand microwaves - allows some peopleto shop less often than people used to.Think about the impact these technolo-gies have on the environment.



In 1914, three-quarters of the butter,cheese, bacon and eggs that people atein Britain came from abroad: fromIreland, Denmark, Holland and theUnited States. Grain came from theUSA, beef from Argentina and lambfrom New Zealand. Many people werevery worried that a blockade could leadto starvation. Panic buying began.Sainsbury’s warned against hoarding,but promised to keep its regularcustomers supplied.

Rationing

Rationing was not finally introduceduntil after the U-boat crisis in 1917.People would start to queue outside ashop when they saw a delivery arrive.The staff invented a form of back-slangto hide from the public what hadarrived: bacon became ‘nocab’ andsugar ‘ragus’.

In October 1917, the public had toregister with a shop in order to buysugar. This was not true rationingbecause they were not guaranteed asupply. In January 1918 butter andmargarine were added to the ration.Gradually other products were added.The amounts varied slightly accordingto availability, but they were generally:

§ sugar: 8 oz per week (227 grams)§ butter or margarine: 5 oz per week

(140 grams)§ jam: 4 oz per week (113 grams)§ tea: 2 oz per week (56 grams).

Fresh meat and bacon were rationedby value rather than by weight. Theallowance bought about 1lb of meat

(454 grams) and 4-8 oz of bacon (113 to227 grams).

The government wanted people toeconomise on coal, the main cookingfuel. Sainsbury’s advertisementsemphasised the savings that could bemade by buying Sainsbury’s preparedmeats:

§ cooked sliced ham 3s 0d lb (15p per454 grams)

§ breakfast sausage 2s 8d lb (13p per454 grams

§ Oxford brawn 1s 8d lb (8p per 454grams)

After the war, it took a while for life toreturn to normal. Although food pricesreturned to pre-war levels by the end of1918, the pattern of foreign trade hadbeen changed for ever. Food pricessoon started to rise and rationing hadto be reintroduced. Sugar did notfinally come off the ration untilSeptember 1920. See the 1919 rationcard and advertisement in theresources.

Women at Sainsbury’s

During the Great War (1914-1918)many of the men who worked forSainsbury’s joined the army. Thephotocopy from the engagementrecords shows men leaving ‘to joinColours’. This gave women morechance of a good job in the shops.

An advertisement placed in the DailyMail for 200 single women producedthousands of applications. The wageswere £1 per week, with 2s 3d (11p)deducted for tea and washing of the


Page 1 The First World War

The FirstWorld War

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3

overalls provided by the firm. (See theadvertisement in the resources.)

Women were sent on a three weektraining course at the company’s Black-friars head office where they learned allthe skills the boys had been taught:

§ ‘candling’ eggs (checking for faultsby holding eggs up to a light. SeeFactfile 6, page 3 for a description)

§ using the bacon slicer.§ ‘scaling’ (balancing the scales to

coz . Approximately 3.5 grams).§ dividing a barrel of butter into neat

half pound packs using ‘The Sains-bury Method of Wiring’.

The importance of keeping everythingspotlessly clean was also impressed onthe new recruits.

During the first world war, somewomen soon became managers, usuallyof the smaller branches. In someplaces the entire staff consisted ofwomen and boys too young to fight.To begin with some male managersrefused to let women do the jobs theyhad been trained for. They tried tomake them do cleaning and clericalwork. This annoyed John Benjamin,the founders’ son. ‘This was not exactlywhat I had in mind’, he wrote.

After the war, the company kept itspromise to give back their jobs to themen who had joined up to fight. Somewomen left their jobs. Others foundwork in the new grocery departmentswhich were added to shops after 1920.A few stayed on in senior positions.Alice Hayes, who had been manager at43 High Street, Islington was demoted

to saleswoman when a new malemanager was appointed in December1919. Three months later she wasoffered the manager’s job at 159Queen’s Crescent, Kentish Town. Sheworked there until July 1941.

It was a strict rule that women couldnot work in the shops after they weremarried. (They were still able to workas housekeepers, maids and cooks.)

1. Look at the photograph of thefemale delivery driver and her assistant.She is sitting confidently on the bonnetof a Model T Ford truck. It has solidtyres and coach-style wheels. Her assis-tant is wearing the double breastedtunic jacket that was introduced in1907. The driver, on the other hand isnot wearing a uniform. Why do youthink that that is? How old do youthink the boy is?

2. Look at the photograph of the‘Food in Wartime’ Crelos margarineadvertisement. Crelos was one of theearliest Sainsbury’s brand names. Itwas good quality, but margarine wasgenerally regarded as inferior to butter.Look at the appeal to patriotism in theadvertisement: ‘There is nothing againstyour using “Crelos” Margarine but sentiment,and sentiment in these days of war is poorargument.’ Notice too the boy’s sailorsuit.


Page 2 The First World War

Factfile 3Resources

Postcards:Female delivery driver

and assistant, c 1915

Photocopies:Advertisement and

newspaper cutting, 1914

Advertisement for Crelosmargarine, 1915

Ration card and adver-tisement, 1919

Staff engagementrecords, 1914

At the outbreak of the second worldwar the government was betterprepared for rationing thanks to theexperience gained during the GreatWar. At the beginning of November1939 families were told to register at aparticular shop. Sainsbury’s clearedpart of its counters to help customer fillin their registration forms, but it didnot tout for customers. As the instruc-tion said: ‘Efficient, polite service, “JS”standards of cleanliness and orderliness - anair of cheerfulness and willingness, the mainte-nance of the public’s confidence will do farmore for the registration than the slips of paperon the window panes of our competitors saying“Register Here” will achieve for them.’

Rationing

The rationing system was complicated.Sugar, bacon, butter, cheese andcooking fat were rationed by weight;their coupons had to be cancelled inthe ration book. ‘Preserves’ weretreated as a group, so customers couldchoose whether to buy jam, marmaladeor syrup or, at some points in the war,to swap the ration for sugar. Tea wasrationed by weight with coupons thathad to be cut out of the book by theshop assistant. Meat was rationed byvalue. Most types of groceries (biscuits,canned goods, cereals etc) wererationed by points. Customers had afixed number of points to spend in eachfour week period.

The quantities allowed on the rationalso changed as supplies becamescarcer, and depended on the person’sage and occupation. Rationing fordifferent products was introduced atdifferent times.

§ March 1940: butter, bacon andsugar rationed.

§ July 1940: tea, margarine andcooking fats rationed.

§ May 1941: cheese rationed.§ December 1941: points rationing

was introduced for groceries.§ July 1942: sweets rationed.

In May 1941 an adult’s weekly rationconsisted of:

§ 3 pints of milk (2.7 litres)§ 2 oz tea (56g)§ 2 oz cooking fat (56g)§ 6 oz butter (168g)§ 8 oz jam (227g)§ 4 oz bacon (113g)§ 8 oz sugar (227g)§ 1 oz cheese (28g)§ 16 grocery points per four weeks§ 1s 0d worth of meat (5p) *.

* This would buy, for example, 1 lb(454 grams) of beef mince, 2 lbs (908grams ) scrag-end of mutton, or 6 oz(168 grams) of rump steak.

Children’s ration were generallysmaller, with ‘priority’ entitlement tomilk, oranges and eggs etc.

The Black Market

Rationing was intended to make surethat everyone got fair shares. Thieveswould sometimes steal food and othergoods (such as ladies’ stockings) thatwere in short supply and sell them onthe ‘black market’. The government triedto discourage people from buying blackmarket goods with the slogan: ‘It’s notclever to get more than your share.’


Page 1 The Second World War

The SecondWorld War

Factfile

4

Sainsbury’s supported this campaignwith chatty advertisements of its own.See The girl at Sainsbury’s and Themanager at Sainsbury’s in the resources.

Although it was illegal, some shopkeep-ers favoured their loyal customers bygiving them extra from ‘under thecounter’. Sainsbury’s gave strict instruc-tion to its staff that they were not to dothis and every branch employee had tosign a statement to say that they under-stood that if they broke the rationingregulations they would be sackedimmediately. This declaration washeaded ‘Food is a Munition of War’. Sixmembers of a butchers’ departmentwere sacked for overcharging and inJuly 1943 a manager was sacked forstealing rationed foods.

Some managers were not called upbecause the government realised thattheir experience was important inensuring that rationing worked, andthat people did get fair shares. Manymen who worked as shop assistants andporters were of course called up andtheir places were taken by women.

Healthy Eating

The government saw the chance toimprove the nation’s diet. The Minis-try of Food made special arrangementsfor pregnant women, nursing mothersand young children. Many poorchildren with their free milk, cod-liveroil and orange juice, were better fedduring the war than they would havebeen before it in the depression of the1930s. ‘Doctor Carrot’ and ‘Potato Pete’encouraged people to eat more vegeta-bles, and, all over the country, parks

and every other scrap of unused landwere given over to growing vegetables.

New recipes were invented to act assubstitutes for food that was no longeravailable. Woolton Pie was one of themost famous of these dishes. It wasnamed after Lord Woolton, the foodminister and invented by the chef at theSavoy Hotel. One of the activities asksyou to have a go at making WooltonPie yourself.

Sainsbury’s helped the war effort byprinting its own recipes and wartimefood tips. See Sainsbury’s wartimefood tips Plan your points in theresources.

Air Raids

Rationing was not the only problemthat shoppers and shop assistants facedduring the war. Air raids threatenedtheir lives. The German bombing raidson the London docks meant that theEast End was badly blitzed.

William Guest described whathappened to his branch in WatneyStreet when an unexploded bombcrashed through the wall of theMaypole Dairy next door and settled inthe foundations of his shop: ‘For severaldays we traded from another shop and stall upthe street. A van from head office kept ussupplied with a good selection of perishablesand kept our customers reasonably happy. Thevan took away the surplus food at night andbrought us fresh supplies each day.’

There were casualties. Sainsbury’sbiggest tragedy was at its Marylebonebranch where four staff were killed in a



DoctorCarrot andPotato Peteencouraged

people to eatmore vegeta-bles, and all

over thecountry

parks andevery other

scrap ofunused land

were givenover to

growingvegetables.

direct hit on the shop during the nightof 19 November 1940.

In Norwich there were heavy raidsduring the first week of May 1942 andsix members of staff were madehomeless. Such was their sense of dutythat they turned up at work as normal.

At East Grinstead the Sainsburybranch was bombed twice. The shopwas impossible to repair, and so Sains-bury’s set up shop in a disusedWesleyan Chapel nearby.

One of the electricians who helped towire the chapel to act as a shop put upa notice which read: ‘a prayer and a smilemakes JS business worthwhile’ - anexample of the cocky wartime humourwhich helped to see people throughdifficult days.

Women At Sainsbury’s

When the second world war broke outin 1939, there were many experiencedwomen who could come back to workat Sainsbury’s. This was because whilesingle women were allowed to work inthe shops, they were required to give upwork once they were married. Many ofthese women were married to branchstaff, and they formed a reserve oftrained labour. They were much moreskilled than the women who had cometo work at Sainsbury’s at the beginningof the Great War.

As the war went on, women did manyjobs which people thought of as men’swork. Some women became butchers,some porters and some managers. Theletter to Mrs Shepperd (1941) in theresources is typical of those sent to

women who had been selected to trainas managers. The 1944 letter to MissCrouch sets out the company’s appre-ciation of the work undertaken bywomen managers during the war.

At the end of the first world war, mostwomen gave up their jobs, but manystayed at work after the second worldwar. This was partly because nationalservice continued, and partly becausethere was plenty of work for everyone,rebuilding the country after the war.

Activities

1. As you can see from theemergency shop photograph, Sains-bury’s had converted two vans tobecome mobile shops when stores werebombed. These vans were equippedwith a standard supply of foods toensure that customers were keptsupplied with their rations. You canprobably make out meat paste, jamsand tea in the photograph.

2. Look at The manager at Sains-bury’s. This advertisement wasdesigned to help the war effort. Noticehow The Manager at Sainsbury’s empha-sises Sainsbury’s core values: ‘standardsof cleanliness and value and fair dealing’. Heuses these to help appeal to thecustomer’s patriotism ‘...we can’t and wewon’t serve extra meat or butter or bacon orsugar outside the ration ... It’s downrightunpatriotic’. Can you see why gettingover the ration would have ‘unpatriotic’?

3. Imagine that you were MrsShepperd or Miss Crouch and that youhad been managing a store during thewar - perhaps it had been bombed andyou had to trade from a temporary



Factfile 4Resources

Postcards:Emergency shop,second world war

Photocopies:The Manager at Sainsbury’s,

1940

Ration Book

Plan your points, 1942

Letter toMrs Shepperd, 1941

Letter toMiss Crouch, 1944

VE Day letter to Sains-bury’s staff on National

Service

shop like the van in the postcard - howwould you feel about giving up yourjob? How would you argue for keepingit?

Look at John Benjamin Sainsbury’s VEDay letter to Sainsbury’s staff onnational service. If you had gone tofight in the war, how would you arguefor getting your old job back?

4. Make up the ration book in theresources. Look at Sainsbury’s Plan yourpoints advice. (In 1942 the pointsallocation was 24 per four weekperiod).

Ten shillings (10s) is 50p in today’smoney. You might like to work out the‘Points for 4-in-Family’ or ‘Points for a Manon his Own’ in today’s money.

1 lb is 454 grams. A 16 oz tin is also454 grams; half a pound (½ lb) is 227grams; a quarter pound (¼ lb) is 113grams.

Perhaps you could collect together thefoods on the points and think abouthow you would feed a family of four onthese.

Imagine you have an adult’s ration for1941 and two types of vegetable whichyou have grown yourself - perhapspotatoes, carrots, onions or cabbage inwinter, and lettuce and tomatoes insummer. You have no fresh eggs, butyou have got some dried eggs, someflour, a tin of corned beef and a tin ofSpam. Can you plan your menus for aweek? How will you stop yourselfgetting bored?

Remember that you would also haverations for tea, milk, fat and meat (seeabove) and perhaps some vegetablesgrown in your garden. You mightconsider making Woolton Pie.

5. Woolton Pie: Have a go atmaking Woolton Pie. Make sure thatyou ask an adult first. You will needabout:

500 grams potatoes500 grams cauliflower500 grams swedes500 grams carrots500 grams onions1 teaspoon vegetable extract1 tablespoon oatmealchopped parsleywheatmeal pastry or mashed potatoesfor the crust.

(Exact quantities of vegetables areunimportant. You’d use what wasavailable.)

Chop the vegetables small and cookwith the vegetable extract, oatmeal anda little water for 10 minutes. Stiroccasionally to prevent sticking.

Carefully put the mixture into a piedish, sprinkle with parsley and coverwith the pastry or mashed potato.Bake in a moderate oven till brown.Serve hot with gravy.



Many town centres were badly damagedby air raids during the second world war,but parts of pre-war shopping streetssurvived in most older towns. After thewar, the first New Towns were built toaccommodate people who had lost theirhomes in the Blitz, and new shoppingcentres were needed to serve thesedevelopment.

The Introduction of Self-service

One of the biggest changes in the waypeople shop came about when self-servicewas introduced in the 1950s. This made itpossible for shopkeepers to use more oftheir space for displaying and sellinggoods, and led to a much wider variety ofgoods being offered for sale. It seemssurprising now, but in the early days Sains-bury’s published advertisements to showcustomers ‘How to shop self-service’. (Seeillustration in the resources.)

When the first self-service shops began toappear in the 1950s there were new oppor-tunities for women to work part-time, forexample, as shelf-fillers (‘gondola girls’),packers and cashiers. The new supermar-kets seemed smart and modern and so didthe new women’s uniforms. A light blueoutfit for women in fashionable nylon wasdesigned by Hardy Amies, the famousfashion designer, in 1963. It was worn byself-service staff only, because nylon didnot provide enough protection for staffworking behind the counter.

Men’s uniforms had hardly changed since1907. The traditional white apron, a cleanone for each day, was the food retailer’sbadge of office. Clean hands, wellgroomed hair and highly-polished blackshoes were also essential. A double-breasted tunic completed the outfit. Thetunic could be worn for two days, buttoned

to the left one day and to the right the nextso that a clean front was always presentedto the customers.

The Supermarket Develops

Since the introduction of self-service, shopshave grown much larger. Most peoplenow do most of their food shopping in onestore, the supermarket, instead of shoppingat different small shops for meat, bread,fruit and vegetables, household goods andgroceries as used to be the pattern.

In the 1960s indoor shopping centres werebuilt to provide more shopping space intown centres. As land got more expensiveand parking more difficult, supermarketsstarted to look to edge-of-town sites.Larger stores meat supermarkets could sellmore products.

Sainsbury’s opened its first edge-of-townstore at Coldham’s Lane, near Cambridgein 1974. It was about twice theaverage size of store opened by Sainsbury’syet. Since then, the company has builtsupermarkets in many types of location,particularly in derelict urban areas.

There are other reasons for the growth ofsupermarkets. The growth in the owner-ship of motor cars means that manypeople can carry home a week or afortnight’s shopping a single trip. Theincrease in the ownership of motor carsmeans that many people can carry home aweek or a fortnight’s shopping in a singletrip. The increase in the ownership in asingle trip. The increase in the ownershipof fridges and freezers means that mostpeople no longer have to buy fresh meatand vegetables every day.


Page 1 Self-Service

Self-service

Factfile

5

Activities

1. Look at the photograph ofCroydon (1950). The manager, MrFowler, still wears a traditional apronsimilar to the one worn by the manager inthe photograph in Factfile 1 (Romford,c1905). Mr Fowler stayed on after he hadreached retirement age to open the firstself-service branch. Perhaps and oldermanager would help to reassure customersabout a new way of shopping.

The shop has new fluorescent lighting andself-service shelves which were known as‘gondolas’ at Sainsbury’s. Notice how lowthese gondolas are. You can easily seeover the top of them. They are supportedon legs which raise them off the floor.(The legless gondolas was not introduceduntil 1969). There are modern geometricfloor tiles, very different from the mosaicfloor of the Guildford branch (1906).Notice that the ladies wear hats for goingshopping.

2. The interior of the Eastbournestore (1952) is also very different fromGuildford. The checkouts, where you payfor your shopping, are close to the exit inEastbourne - and in all modern supermar-kets - whereas at Guildford the cash desk isat the other end of the shop. TheEastbourne checkouts, however, are verydifferent from modern ones. How manydifferences can you see from today?

For example, there are no scanners - eachitem has to be rung up on the till - so thecheckout operator turns away from thecustomer, rather than facing her, as in amodern checkout; there is a wooden rakefor pulling up purchases instead of amoving belt; there are very few cars in thestreet, suggesting that people probably stillgo shopping every day; there are sweets atthe checkout (they disappeared from

Sainsbury’s checkouts from the mid-70s);most customers bring their own shoppingbags although carrier bags are for sale.

3. The photograph of Miss Cooper atCatford dates from 1955. It shows thatcounter service continued well after theintroduction of self-service. The cashregister was a new piece of equipment.There were no cash registers behind thecounter before the introduction ofself-service.

There is a refrigerated display for butter,margarine and cream in front of thecounter and a perspex egg display behindthe counter. You can probably see manyfamiliar brands on display: Trex,Kellogg’s, Prince’s Ham, Nestle’s Milk,Lyle’s Golden Syrup, Robertson’s Jam.Traditional tiles can be seen behind thedisplay.

4. Look at the floor plan in theresources. Design a new store layout ofyour own. You might choose to make alayout for a special group of people, sayparents with young children, perhaps inbaby buggies and pushchairs, or for peoplein wheelchairs; or you might want to thinkabout creating a special feel for your shop.For instance, you might want to make itfeel more like a street market.

5. Shopping has changed a lot since JohnJames and Mary Ann Sainsbury openedtheir first store. How do you thinkshopping will change in the future? Whatwill people buy in a 100 years’ time? Willthey do their shopping by telephone, byvideo or over the internet - or will they stillgo out to the shops?


Page 2 Self-Service

Factfile 5Resources

Postcards:Self-service,

Croydon, 1950

Self-service, Eastbourne, 1952

Counter service, Catford, 1955

Photocopies:How to shop self-service,

1955

Sainsbury’s ‘Q-less’store, Croydon 1940

A modern floor plan,1998

This factfile contains brief accounts ofworking life at Sainsbury’s at differentperiods. The accounts are presented asfirst person narratives:

Mr L J King, 1895

Mr L J King started at Sainsbury’s inBalham in 1895 when he was a school-boy. He did a part-time job, workingevenings and Saturdays. Even so, heclocked up 36 hours a week:

‘I saw the opening of the new branch at 147Balham High Street in 1898. It had fourflaring gas lamps outside to attract trade.There was no telephone. (There was one atLondon Road, Croydon.) There was nocashier, no slicing machine for bacon or cookedmeat. All the slicing was done by hand by asalesman who put a great deal of showmanshipinto the knife-sharpening act. All the shopassistants were men. Women did not startworking in shops until the first world war(1914-1918). Balham was one of the newsuburban stores, so it did home deliveries.Orders to Mitcham, Colliers Wood andWimbledon were sent by pony cart.

‘Eggs from France were the best new-laid.Irish were next. Most of the eggs sold camefrom Denmark, Holland, Italy and Austria at4d a dozen. These were small eggs. Bestbutter came from Normandy in two-poundrolls.’

Albert Skinner, 1915

Nowadays, most people shop by car,and they may do a big shop only once aweek or once a fortnight, but whenJohn James and Mary Ann Sainsburyopened their first shop, most peoplewalked to their local shops, and many

of them went shopping every day.They bought only what they couldcarry, or else they arranged for theirshopping to be delivered for them.

After the opening of the Croydonbranch in 1882, Sainsbury’s startedoffering home deliveries for customers.The service continued until 1955.Delivery boys on bicycles set out fromthe branches for times a day to deliverto local customers. Horses and trapswere used for greater distances andheavier loads and in 1915, Sainsbury’sbought its first Model T Ford van. By1928 there were thirty-seven Fords andeighty Morris vans.

Albert Skinner’s account of his first fewmonths at Sainsbury’s describes aroundsman’s life in 1915:

‘It was quite a change from life in a village tomy first job, which was candling eggs in adarkened basement room, and I was pleasedwhen the manager of the Tunbridge Wellsbranch asked me to take over a round, as theroundsman had been called up. This wasearly 1915, and men were leaving for theforces.

‘It was quite a change from driving alongdusty lanes and the steady pace of the country.The horse that was to be in my care was youngand high spirited; and there was a lot moretraffic on the roads. I was 16 and much thejunior, and I remember being watched by theother roundsmen as I put the horse’s collar onfor the first time. You put it on upside downand then reversed after going over the head. Atleast I knew how that was done.

‘I carried a whip, but I soon realised that“Nobby” was a fast mover, and the whipcould be left behind. Some days the army were


Page 1 Working for Sainsbury’s

Working forSainsbury’s

Factfile

6

after horses. I liked Nobby so we hid in sidestreets. At one large house we called at, Nobbyand the cart were missing from the tradesman’sentrance, and I found him on the front lawnenjoying the grass. Fortunately we leftunobserved.

‘A horse is very like a racing pigeon and knowsthe direction of home, and as the round turnsfor home the faster they go. The last mile wasa straight road. Could that horse trot! Thesparks flew from his shoes, and no other cartpassed us.

‘There was one thing that Nobby had anobjection to, and that was traction engines.They were used for road mending, they werelarge, noisy and smoke and steam belched out.In fact we left the road and mounted thepavement. Back on the road, he was terrified.I just held him in, and waited for him to settledown.

‘One day on arriving back at the shop, themanger said the RSPCA inspector had calledabout me. I had never used the whip onNobby so I knew that wasn’t the reason.Perhaps he had seen me on the last mile homeand thought our speed was dangerous, but no,it was to congratulate me on my handling ofthe horse. He knew of the traction engineepisodes, and I had calmed the horse by notusing the whip.

‘After a few months, a roundsman was foundand I returned to the other shop. I looked outfor Nobby one day. I was going out of theshop to meet him as the cart came towards theshop, and I saw the new roundsman with awhip in his hand. I had to turn away, I justdidn’t want to see.’

Delivery vans were used only to supplyregular customers who had accounts.The van driver was not allowed to

become a travelling salesman, as this1920 letter to the manager of theWatford branch clearly shows:

‘It is understood that the roundsman is only tosupply our regular customers with these extragoods, and not waste his time hawking goodsfrom house to house.

‘I should not encourage the cash trade at all onthe rounds, rather give the roundsman an inter-est in opening weekly accounts for generalorders.’

These ‘extra goods’ were ‘spare goods tosupply your customers in an emergency’, andMr J B Sainsbury, the son of thefounders, and writer of this letter, wasapprehensive about allowing thesespare goods to be carried at all. Homedelivery ceased in 1955, partly becausethe growth in car ownership meantthat there was less demand for it, andpartly to keep down costs.

Ivor Barrett, 1934

Ivor Barrett started at the trainingschool on 29 January 1934, when aged14:

‘The training school was an excellent introduc-tion to Sainsbury’s. Everything was spotlesslyclean, nothing but the very best in butterpatting, cheese wiring, and candling eggs wasacceptable, and much emphasis was placed onpoliteness to customers. We used to talk about“service with efficiency and politeness”.’

In counter service stores, salesmen hadto learn a number of skills, which havenow disappeared. Knocking up butterwas the art of dividing a barrel ofbutter into neat half-pound packs usinga wire, a wooden slice and a beater pat.



“A horse isvery like a

racingpigeon andknows the

direction ofhome, and

as the roundturns forhome the

faster theygo.”

Accuracy was very important. Thebutter had to be presented in a half-pound block. Cheese wiring was theapproved method for dividing a blockof cheese.

In order to check for freshness, eggswere held against a light. This wouldshow whether the yolk remained ingood condition. Ivor Barrett describesan egg candling lamp when he wroteabout his first day at work:

‘One or two other boys arrived at the trainingschool as I waited with my father to see MrSeagrove (the instructor). He soon assuredfather that I would be well taken care of at theschool and that all the boys stayed overnight ata hostel called Dormy House which was overthe branch shop at Holloway. We travelled bybus and for most of us it was our first sight ofLondon.

‘There were about twenty boys - no girlsworked behind the counter in those days - fromvarious parts of the country at the trainingschool. We spent a fortnight learning to usebutter pats, candle eggs and wire cut cheese,before being told which branch we would beplaced in.

‘Work in those days was very long and hard,from 8.30 am to 6.00 pm with late nights onFriday and Saturday often to 9.00 pm.

First day at work:

‘On my first day at East Ham, the managerput me under the care of Mr Hendersby on thebutter counter where we also made up and soldmargarine, lard and a limited number ofassociated products. Next to it, there was acooked meat counter. On the other side of theshop was the long bacon and poultry counterwith a small grocery section adjoining.

Customers doing their weekly shopping had toqueue at each counter during busy periods.

‘The manager had already shown me aroundthe cellar to which warehouse deliveries weremade. There was everything from NewZealand and Dutch butters in bulk, to deepfrozen Australian rabbits in large crates,cooked meats and preserves. And there was alarge refrigerator for the perishables.

‘A large bench was the domain of the poultererwhose full-time job it was to prepare rabbitsand poultry for display and sale. He used toamuse the staff by hacking the crates awayfrom the frozen Australian rabbits, so theyformed a screen about five feet high around hisbench, saying that this kept out the colddraught?

‘Another table in the cellar supported the eggcandling lamp which was a metal cylinderwith a hole on either side, just smaller than theaverage egg. It contained an electric light bulbwhich when lit, and one egg held either side,would show up any imperfection. Can youimagine how many eggs a day had to becandled? The cheapest eggs were imported inlarge crates, only straw-packed, for theirjourney from Poland. Needless to say quite afew did not survive the journey and openingthose crates and removing the straw was not anenjoyable task after a good breakfast!

‘However I enjoyed those first few days at thebutter counter and occasionally acted as awrapper-up for the fleet-handed assistants whocould often pat up the butter to the exact half-pound in seconds. A spare butter “block” wasused for some advance weighing and wrappingfor weekends.

‘After a few days, I took over on the pavementegg stall. I spend my time scrubbing trestletables, candling eggs, carrying boxes of eggs the



“The poultererused to amuse

the staff byhacking thecrates away

from the frozenAustralian

rabbits, whichthey formed a

five feet highscreen aroundhis bench. He

said it kept outthe cold

draught!”

length of the shop to the stall and standing outin the February cold, occasionally flicking thecarefully stacked eggs with a feather duster toremove street dust, and “barking” my wares.However, at 9d (about 4p) a dozen for freshfarm eggs, you didn’t have to bark very loudly.

‘We lived over the shop and meals wereprepared by the housekeeper. I started at 25shillings a week (£1.15), from which werededucted 15 shillings (75p) for board andlodging. Another is 8d (about 8p) coveredinsurance and income tax, leaving 8s 4d’ (or42p in today’s money).

Howard Bell, 1936

The following prize-winning essay waswritten in 1936 by Howard Bell. Hehad joined Sainsbury’s in August, justbefore his 14th birthday. Themanager, Mr Turner, had offered hislads a prize of 5s 0d for the best essayon ‘My first Christmas at Sainsbury’s’,

My First Christmas at Sainsbury’s

‘My first Christmas at Sainsbury’s was anextraordinary experience for me. Christmaswas only a week ahead and everywhere andwas getting busy.

‘Being my first Christmas in business, I hadno idea what Christmas was like at work, butI soon found that the work was mingled withenjoyment, and everyone was so happy.

‘First of all, fancy goods and crackers startedarriving. Then cases and cases of turkeys.The speed and system of the poultry depart-ment in drawing and trussing these birdsamazed me, as every employee was out everynight by midnight, whereas outside shops wereworking until one and two in the morning. Inow know what a Christmas rush is, but I

will always look forward to Christmas on thefirm.

‘The part I like was that everybody helped inthe rush. Everyone did their share, as we allrealised that teamwork was the only thing thatwould get the work done.

‘As the days of the Christmas week passed,many things opened my eyes, one thing, thatour employer gave his employees a Christmasbox of double their weekly sum. The Christ-mas orders are something else which I think iswonderful. All the hundreds and hundreds oforders we had, and hardly any customer wasdisappointed or let down.

‘The time worked its way on and before weknew it we had but one day to go. That daywe were not quite so busy as the past few aseverybody I think purchased early. There wasanother surprise in store yet. We were all atwork when our manager came through thewarehouse and read a telegram from MrSainsbury, telling us to keep a stout heartthrough the last lap, which we all thought wasvery nice.

‘My work throughout this busy period was tocut the giblets out of each bird. Also during theday helping to pluck them. Sometimes I wouldgive a helping hand on eggs and butter, whenthey were busy and crowded.

‘After the shop was closed and all the countersscrubbed and tidied, all available assistantswent to the poultry department to do what theycould. Work continued throughout the eveninguntil we were told that supper would beupstairs in the house at nine-thirty. We allwent upstairs to supper and had nice hot soup,after which we had sausage and mash.

‘On Christmas Eve we were not very busy andone member of the staff organised a raffle in



“The cheapesteggs were

imported inlarge, straw

packed crates,for their

journey fromPoland. Asquite a few

eggs did ntosurvive the

journeyremoving the

straw fromthe crates was

not an enjoy-able task after

a goodbreakfast”

which we had crackers and fancy goods. Thetime rolled on and eventually the shutters werepulled down. After scrubbing up our counters,we all drew our money and went home, every-one wishing each other a Happy Christmas.

Howard Bell’s Work

‘Every fourth Saturday following closing, eachshop undertook stocktaking. And that wasafter the normal, daily closing routine whereall marble counters, tiled walls and counterfronts, floors etc were scrubbed. Polishing oftiles with ball whitening followed scrubbing,and weekly, all bacon rails had to be burnishedand scoured with scouring paper, andleather/chain burnishing pads.

‘Egg baskets, brass scales, cheese boards etcwere also scrubbed or polished weekly, as werethe marble shelves at the rear of the counters.Butter blocks in the shops and the dairy prepa-ration room were scrubbed daily in winter,twice daily in summer. Scrubbing of these wasfollowed by pumice stoning, followed by cover-ing with damp muslin overnight. Butter patpails were changed as frequently as three ormore times daily.

‘I was engaged as a manager’s runner at 6s 0d(30p) per week plus my board and lodging less3d (about 1p) for my insurance stamp.Hence, I was handed following our closing ona Saturday evening, 5s 9d (29p) in a smallbrown envelope. This may not sound muchnow, but bear in mind, sweets were 2d (lessthan 1p) a quarter, and one could visit thecinema for 6d, (2.5p) plus 2d for an icecream.’

Maureen, a 1960s School Leaver

This account is taken from a BBCschools television programme in the

Going to Work series, first broadcast inthe 1960s.

‘I work mainly behind the scenes. Thismorning I was on the conveyor belt pricing tinsof fruit. Mr Hedges, my supervisor, cutsround the top of the boxes with a knife andmarks the price on the lid for me. I put theprices on the tin using a “plonker”. There’sone for each price and the price is alwaysshown clearly on the top. It works like arubber stamp. Now that customers helpthemselves from the shelf. It’s important thateach product is clearly marked with the price.

‘The morning is always busy so most morningsI’m on the belt. We cross the items off theorder book as soon as we’ve “plonked” them.You get to know the prices pretty soon, but youcan always look them up in the order book ifyou’re not quite sure.

‘I can plonk a case load in about thirtyseconds. You have to be quick in this jobbecause the conveyor belt doesn’t wait for you.The cans go straight downstairs on the belt,ready to be stacked on the shelves.

‘I used to work on the “gondolas”, but I also Ilike working up here on the belt. It’s veryfriendly and you know everyone. Downstairsin the shop, you have to keep looking at yourshelves all them time and you never seem tohave any time to yourself.

‘I was nervous when I had my interviews. Ihad just turned 15 and I had left school atEaster. I dressed smartly for my interview andmade sure that I was clean and tidy and thatmy hands and nails were presentable. I knewthat was important for dealing with food.

‘I was asked some straightforward questionsabout why I wanted to work for Sainsbury’sand I had to take an aptitude test which



“I wasengaged as a

manager’srunner at 30pper week plusmy board and

lodging. I washanded 29p in

a small brownenvelope

following ourclosing on a

Saturdayevening, as 1pwas deductedfor my insur-ance stamp.”

involved moving coloured blocks around in abox. It was quite easy but it is designed toshow if you are good with your hands. That’simportant, especially when you are workingupstairs.

Training, Skills and Play

‘I then went on a basic training course where Ilearned how to prepare slabs of butter. Thatreally is an art. I’ve never had to do it in ashop myself though, because most butter comesready prepared nowadays. It was good thoughto learn how important it is to give correctweight. It is the grocer’s profit and thecustomer’s satisfaction as they used to say atthe training school.

‘I had another example of that this afternoonwhen I was packing bacon. Mr Green, who isin charge of bacon preparation, cuts thegammon rashers and places them betweenstrips of cardboard to keep them firm. I wrapthem in transparent paper which is sealed bytouching to the hot plate. You have to becareful not to burn your fingers. Then I sticka label on so the customer can see what kind ofbacon it is.

‘Mrs Pleasance weighs the bacon and writes inthe weight and the price. We add the sameamount of packaging to the other side of thescales so that only the bacon is weighted. Aquick glance at the ready reckoner lets MrsPleasance price the pack without having towork it out herself.

‘The minimum rate for shop work is £3.5.0d(three pounds five shillings or £3.25p intoday’s money), but Sainsbury’s pays£4.10.0d per week (£4.50).

‘But even more important than the wages arethe promotion prospects. Sainsbury’s believesin promoting from the shop floor and many of

the top people in the company started at thebottom. I get a full day off every week to go totechnical college, and I get my fares and myfees paid for me.’

Workers at Sainsbury’s Today

Women now work at every level inSainsbury’s from the boardroom to thecheckout. The director of finance is awoman, and there are women workingas branch managers, as buyers and inspecialist areas from transport tocomputing, accountancy to scientificservices.

Anne Garnes, 1998

‘I work part-time at a small Sainsbury’sbranch. For students like me, it’s convenientthat the busiest parts of the trading weekhappen to be at times when I’m not at college.I’ve worked there since I was sixteen, and havegradually been given more responsibility.

‘When I arrive on a Saturday morning at justbefore 8.00 am, there will already be severalother staff about - putting out the produce(that’s fruit and vegetables) and the bakerygoods (most goods will have been replenishedovernight). The store manager will be on theshop floor, checking that everything is ready forthe day’s work ahead.

‘This morning I’m start on the checkouts andspend the afternoon in the beers, wines andspirits department (we call it ‘BWS’).Operating a scanning checkout is harder than itlooks. The easiest items to scan come in boxes,which you just pass smoothly over the checkout.‘To scan a flexible pack like a bag of peas, youneed to shake the contents down to make surethe scanner can ‘read’ the barcodes.



“I wasnervous when

I had myinterview. I

had justturned 15 and

I had leftschool atEaster. I

dressedsmartly and

made surethat my handsand nails werepresentable. Iknew that wasimportant for

dealing withfood.”

‘Produce is weighed at the checkout, so you’vegot to be able to identify the different exoticfruits, varieties of potatoes and new lineswhich come your way. (We have accuracytests, and there’s a ‘spot the difference’ boardwith samples in the staff restaurant).

‘You also need to take care in handlingpeople’s shopping. Fresh and cooked meats areput into separate bags, to avoid any risk ofcross-contamination: and glass bottles,produce and bread are put on the metal panelat the side of the conveyor belt so they don’t getdamaged.

‘You need to be sensitive about offering carrierbags. People are much more conscious of theenvironment nowadays, so bags are availablefor anyone who wants them, but we encouragecustomers to be environmentally friendly byoffering a penny back for every bag they bringto reuse.

‘The trick is to work smoothly and steadily.People want to get through as quickly as possi-ble, but it’s no good zapping everythingthrough and leaving them to sort out the jumbleat the end. When everything’s checked out, Ipress the subtotal button, and the two displaysshow the amount; you then have to say aloudhow much it is and ask the customer howthey’d like to pay - by cash, cheque, debit orcredit card and whether they have a RewardCard and if they would like to claim anyoutstanding Reward vouchers.

‘After lunch it’s time for me to go off to beers,wines and spirits (BWS). You have to be over18 to work in this department. I enjoyworking here because you get a lot of customercontact.‘My job is to keep the displays up to scratch,respond to customer queries - I don’t knowmuch about wine, but there’s quite a lot ofinformation on the back labels of the bottles,

and I can point out special offers as well asjournalists’ recommendations: there’s generallyseveral Multibuys in this department. Securityis an issue too, because it’s a high valueproduct range.

‘Today, a boy of about eleven knocks off a litreof red wine with the corner of a fully-loadedtrolley. His mum is furious, and it makes adreadful mess - you wouldn’t believe how faryou can spread a litre of wine! My first job isto cover the mess with an empty trolley andsend for a cleaner.

‘Then I reassure the customer, in order tominimise her embarrassment - and his! I helpher find what she wants, and then help to clearup the glass. Within five minutes we’ve gotback to how it should be.

‘It’s coming up to closing time, and the deputymanager asks me to go and tidy up the healthand beauty department; that’s the cosmetics,toiletries and pharmaceuticals. Even after thestore closes at six o’clock, there are still quite afew customers about and we keep four check-outs open for them.

‘It is now six-thirty and it’s time to go home.I clock out, pick up my coat and bag from thelocker and it’s off to catch the bus - I shall bepretty glad to put my feet up when I get home!.

‘I enjoy the variety and pace of work at Sains-bury’s, and the store manager has suggestedthat I consider applying for a managementtraining programme when I leave college. Ihaven’t decided yet, but I know several of thetrainee managers and although it’s a demand-ing programme, the prospects seem to be prettygood. At least I’ve got a good idea what I’d beletting myself in for!



“I’ve workedpart-time at a

small Sains-bury’s branch

since I wassixteen, andhave gradu-

ally been givenmore respon-

sibility. Forstudents like

me, it’sconvenient

that thebusiest partsof the tradingweek happento be at timeswhen I’m not

at college,”

Activities

1. Look at the recruitment adver-tisements. What changes do theseadvertisements record? For example,in 1886 Sainsbury’s was still a smallfirm advertising in the classified sectionof the press. In 1937 hostel accommo-dation was offered and holidays withpay and pensions at 60 were the ‘perks’of the job.

The 1954 advertisement is clearlyaddressed to men. It was published ina magazine called ‘Blighty’ which waspublished for national servicemen. (Seealso the 1914 newspaper cutting‘Women’s Grocers’ in Factfile 3 and Themanager at Sainsbury’s in Factfile 4.

2. Look at the employmentrecords included in the resources.They give a good idea of the range orwork undertaken in counter serviceshops and of the way salesmenprogressed from department to depart-ment. The reverse side of the cardsshows the questions that managers hadto answer about their staff. As you cansee, most of these questions are aboutpersonal qualities and attitudes.Opposite are set out the range orpractical skills which had to beacquired for promotion.

3. Choose one of these advertise-ments and write a letter of applicationfor the advertised job. Remember thatin Victorian times most people leftschool at 12 or 13, so the 18 year old in1886 would be likely to have hadconsiderable work experience. If youare applying for a job with training in1954, you might mention your

experiences in the armed forces onnational service.

4. How has shop work changedover the last 100 years? List some ofthe different skills described in theseextracts. Identify which skills havedisappeared? Why?5. Compare the life and ambitionsof a 14 year old boy in 1936 and that ofa boy or girl of the same age today.

6. Talk to your own family andfriends about the work they do. Youmay have grandparents or may knowelderly people who did jobs that havenow disappeared. Use a tape recorderto make your own oral history record-ings. Use them to make a radioprogramme or a ‘talking book’ forpeople with sight impairment.



Factfile 6Resources

Photocopies:Staff experience card

(1937-1940)

Recruitmentadvertisements:

§ Drury Lane, 1886

§ A career for keenyoung men, 1937

§ A career in the foodtrade, 1954

§

Tributes to Sainsbury’s Founders, Daily Mail, 1928


Photocopy Resource Factfile 1

Method of cutting butter, 1914





Arc

hit

ectu

ral p

lan

for

392

Mar

e St

reet

, H

ack

ney

, 19

29

Advertisement for Crelos margarine, 1915



Advertisement & newspaper cutting, 1914



Ration card and advertisement, 1919





Staf

f e

nga

gem

ent

reco

rds,

191

4

The Manager at Sainsbury’s, 1940



Plan your points, 1942



Letter to Mrs Shepperd, 1941



Letter to Mrs Crouch, 1944



Letter to Mrs Crouch, 1944



VE Day letter to Sainsbury’s staff on national service



Ration Book

The following pages are a copy of a standard ration book for an adultfrom 1953. It is a copy from an original book where pages 7 and 8 havebeen clipped out. Ration books were issued from November 1939 untilJuly 1954 when meat and bacon were the last goods to be decontrolled.You can make your own ration book by cutting up these pages along thedotted lines, and placing them one on top of the other, starting withpages 2/15 face upwards, followed by 4/23, 6/21, 10/19, 12/17, andending with pages 14/15 at the top. Fold along the centre to make abooklet and staple carefully along the spine.

Notice on page 4 how the rationing year was divided up into 13 fourweekly periods, rather than 12 months. On page 6 are the names of theshops with which the book’s holder was registered.



How to shop self-service, 1955





Sain

sbu

ry’s

“Q

-les

s” s

tore

, C

royd

on,

1950

A modern floor plan, 1998





Staf

f exp

erie

nce

car

d (

193

7-19

40)



Arch

itectu

ral p

lan

for 3

92 M

are S

treet,

Hac

kney

, 192

9St

aff e

xper

ience

card

(193

7- 1

940)



Rec

ruit

men

t ad

vert

isem

ents

, Dru

ry L

ane

1886

A career for keen young men, 1937



A career in the food trade, 1954



Chapel Street Islington, c 1895

Sainsbury’s History Pack Picture Resources

Permission is granted to photocopy for individual study and classroom use

Romford branch, c 1905



Guildford branch, c 1906



Harry Webb, delivery lad, Enfield c 1913



Sidney Street, Cambridge, c 1925Please note that as glue and scissors are required to build the houses, adult supervision isadvised. Also the sheet needs to be glued to card before assembly.



Queen’s Crescent, Kentish Town, c 1876Please note that as glue and scissors are required to build the houses, adult supervision isadvised. Also the sheet needs to be glued to card before assembly.



The Parade, Watford, c 1898Please note that as glue and scissors are required to build the houses, adult supervision isadvised. Also the sheet needs to be glued to card before assembly.



London Road, Croydon, c 1882Please note that as glue and scissors are required to build the houses, adult supervision isadvised. Also the sheet needs to be glued to card before assembly.



Female delivery driver and assistant, c 1915



Emergency shop, Second World War



Self-service, Croydon, 1950



Self-service, Eastbourne, 1952



Counter service, Catford, 1955



Street carnival, Enfield, c 1930



Documents

Introduction to Sainsbury’s History Packsainsburys.lgfl.org.uk/media/histpack.pdfSainsbury’s and the Provision Trade Page 2 Sainsbury’s and the Provision Trade As Sainsbury’s